Method of and system for managing projects, programs and portfolios throughout the project lifecycle

1. A project-management method comprising:

implementing, on a server computer having a processor and memory, a universal framework for engaging projects within an enterprise, the implementation comprising:

specifying, in one or more computer-readable media accessible to the server computer, a project-management process operable to manage projects within the enterprise, the project-management process comprising a plurality of phases, each phase of the plurality of phases comprising a plurality of standard operating procedure (SOP) activities to be performed from at least one project-management level; and

on the one or more computer-readable media, storing and integrating into the project-management process:

a standardized set of process-related project-management assets, each project-management asset of the standardized set of process-related project-management assets being identified with at least one SOP activity of the project-management process, the standardized set of project-management assets in combination with the project-management process being deemed to increase at least one of project quality, project efficiency, and project effectiveness;

a standardized set of project-management assets related to at least one of selecting, assigning, developing, certifying, and managing human resources involved in project management; and

a standardized set of project-management assets comprising a plurality of technological tools, the plurality of technological tools being operable to automate one or more aspects of the project management process; and

optimizing, via the server computer, at least one project via the integration of:

the standardized set of process-related project-management assets;

the standardized set of project-management assets related to at least one of selecting, assigning, developing, certifying, and managing human resources involved in project management; and

the standardized set of project-management assets comprising the plurality of technological tools.

2. The project-management method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one project-management level comprises a project level and the plurality of SOP activities comprises one or more SOP activities to be performed from the project level.

3. The project-management method of claim 2 , wherein:

the at least one project-management level comprises a program level;

the plurality of SOP activities comprises one or more SOP activities to be performed from the program level; and

the optimizing action comprises optimization of at least one program of projects.

4. The project-management method of claim 3 , wherein:

the at least one project-management level comprises a portfolio level;

the plurality of SOP activities comprises one or more SOP activities to be performed from the portfolio level; and

the optimizing action comprises optimization of at least one portfolio of projects.

5. The project-management method of claim 4 , wherein the implementation comprises generating and storing a defined set of metrics for the projects in the enterprise and a defined set of thresholds, each threshold in the defined set of thresholds being related to a metric in the defined set of metrics.

6. The project-management method of claim 5 , the project-management method comprising monitoring a project in the enterprise from at least one of the project level, the program level, and the portfolio level via the defined set of metrics.

7. The project-management method of claim 6 , wherein the monitoring action comprises generating a standardized project scorecard for the project that includes a value for each metric in the defined set of metrics.

8. The project-management method of claim 7 , wherein the monitoring action comprises, for each threshold in the defined set of thresholds, comparing the threshold to the related metric in the defined set of metrics.

9. The project-management method of claim 8 , wherein:

the monitoring action comprises monitoring a plurality of projects in the enterprise using the defined set of metrics; and

the generation of the standardized project scorecard comprises generation of the standardized project scorecard for each of the plurality of projects.

10. The project-management method of claim 9 , the project-management method comprising identifying an underperforming project from the plurality of projects via a comparison of the project scorecard for each of the plurality of projects.

11. The project-management method of claim 10 , the project-management method comprising associating each metric in the defined set of metrics with at least selected ones of the plurality of SOP activities of the project-management process in the memory of the server computer.

12. The project-management method of claim 11 , wherein the monitoring action comprises monitoring performance of the at least selected ones of the plurality of SOP activities for the plurality of projects via the association of each metric in the defined set of metrics therewith.

13. The project-management method of claim 12 , wherein:

the plurality of projects is a program of projects; and

the monitoring action comprises monitoring at least a portion of the one or more SOP activities to be performed from the program level.

14. The project-management method of claim 12 , wherein:

the plurality of projects is a portfolio of projects; and

the monitoring action comprises monitoring at least a portion of the one or more SOP activities to be performed from the portfolio level.

15. The project-management method of claim 14 , the project-management method comprising defining a plurality of project-management roles, at least one role of the plurality of project-management roles relating to the project level, at least one role of the plurality of project-management roles relating to the program level, and at least one role of the project-management roles relating to the portfolio level.

16. The project-management method of claim 15 , the project-management method comprising:

mapping at least one of the one or more SOP activities to be performed from the project level to the at least one role relating to the project level, the at least one activity being included in the at least a portion of the one or more SOP activities being monitored from the project level;

mapping at least one of the one or more SOP activities to be performed from the program level to the at least one role relating to the program level, the at least one activity being included in the at least a portion of the one or more SOP activities being monitored from the program level; and

mapping at least one of the one or more SOP activities to be performed from the portfolio level to the at least one role relating to the portfolio level, the at least one activity being included in the at least a portion of the one or more SOP activities being monitored from the portfolio level.

17. The project-management method of claim 16 , the project-management method comprising:

reporting at least one metric to a human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the project level;

reporting at least one metric to a human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the program level; and

reporting at least one metric to a human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the portfolio level.

18. The project-management method of claim 17 , the project-management method comprising wherein the human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the project level, the human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the program level, and the human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the portfolio level are at least one of selected, assigned, developed, and certified via the standardized set of project-management assets related to at least one of selecting, assigning, developing, certifying, and managing human resources involved in project management.

19. The project-management method of claim 17 , wherein the monitoring action is at least partially automated via selected ones of the plurality of technological tools.

20. The project-management method of claim 5 , wherein the defined set of metrics comprises metrics relating to at least one of project scope, project schedule, project cost, project resources, project risk, and project quality.

21. The computer-program product of claim 7 , wherein the monitoring action comprises, for each threshold in the defined set of thresholds, comparing the threshold to the related metric in the defined set of metrics.

22. The computer-program product of claim 21 , wherein:

the monitoring action comprises monitoring a plurality of projects in the enterprise using the defined set of metrics; and

the generation of the standardized project scorecard comprises generation of the standardized project scorecard for each of the plurality of projects.

23. The computer-program product of claim 22 , the project-management method comprising identifying an underperforming project from the plurality of projects via a comparison of the project scorecard for each of the plurality of projects.

24. The computer-program product of claim 23 , the project-management method comprising associating each metric in the defined set of metrics with at least selected ones of the plurality of SOP activities of the project-management process in the memory of the server computer.

25. The computer-program product of claim 24 , wherein the monitoring action comprises monitoring performance of the at least selected ones of the plurality of SOP activities for the plurality of projects via the association of each metric in the defined set of metrics therewith.

26. The computer-program product of claim 25 , wherein:

the plurality of projects is a portfolio of projects; and

the monitoring action comprises monitoring at least a portion of the one or more SOP activities to be performed from the portfolio level.

27. The computer-program product of claim 26 , the project-management method comprising defining a plurality of project-management roles, at least one role of the plurality of project-management roles relating to the project level, at least one role of the plurality of project-management roles relating to the program level, and at least one role of the project-management roles relating to the portfolio level.

28. The computer-program product of claim 27 , the project-management method comprising:

mapping at least one of the one or more SOP activities to be performed from the project level to the at least one role relating to the project level, the at least one activity being included in the at least a portion of the one or more SOP activities being monitored from the project level;

mapping at least one of the one or more SOP activities to be performed from the program level to the at least one role relating to the program level, the at least one activity being included in the at least a portion of the one or more SOP activities being monitored from the program level; and

mapping at least one of the one or more SOP activities to be performed from the portfolio level to the at least one role relating to the portfolio level, the at least one activity being included in the at least a portion of the one or more SOP activities being monitored from the portfolio level.

29. The computer-program product of claim 28 , the project-management method comprising:

reporting at least one metric to a human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the project level;

reporting at least one metric to a human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the program level; and

reporting at least one metric to a human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the portfolio level.

30. The computer-program product of claim 29 , the project-management method comprising wherein the human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the project level, the human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the program level, and the human resource assigned to the at least one role relating to the portfolio level are at least one of selected, assigned, developed, and certified via the standardized set of project-management assets related to at least one of selecting, assigning, developing, certifying, and managing human resources involved in project management.

31. The computer-program product of claim 29 , wherein the monitoring action is at least partially automated via selected ones of the plurality of technological tools.

32. The computer-program product of claim 25 , wherein:

the plurality of projects is a program of projects; and

the monitoring action comprises monitoring at least a portion of the one or more SOP activities to be performed from the program level.

33. A computer-program product comprising a computer-usable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a project-management method comprising:

implementing, on a server computer having a processor and memory, a universal framework for engaging projects within an enterprise, the implementation comprising:

specifying, in one or more computer-readable media accessible to the server computer, a project-management process operable to manage projects within the enterprise, the project-management process comprising a plurality of phases, each phase of the plurality of phases comprising a plurality of standard operating procedure (SOP) activities to be performed from at least one project-management level;

on the one or more computer-readable media, storing and integrating into the project-management process:

a standardized set of process-related project-management assets, each project-management asset of the standardized set of process-related project-management assets being identified with at least one SOP activity of the project-management process, the standardized set of project-management assets in combination with the project-management process being deemed to increase at least one of project quality, project efficiency, and project effectiveness;

a standardized set of project-management assets related to at least one of selecting, assigning, developing, certifying, and managing human resources involved in project management; and

a standardized set of project-management assets comprising a plurality of technological tools, the plurality of technological tools being operable to automate one or more aspects of the project management process; and

optimizing, via the server computer, at least one project via the integration of:

the standardized set of process-related project-management assets;

the standardized set of project-management assets related to at least one of selecting, assigning, developing, certifying, and managing human resources involved in project management; and

the standardized set of project-management assets comprising the plurality of technological tools.

34. The computer-program product of claim 33 , wherein the at least one project-management level comprises a project level and the plurality of SOP activities comprises one or more SOP activities to be performed from the project level.

35. The computer-program product of claim 34 , wherein:

the at least one project-management level comprises a program level;

the plurality of SOP activities comprises one or more SOP activities to be performed from the program level; and

the optimizing action comprises optimization of at least one program of projects.

36. The computer-program product of claim 35 , wherein:

the at least one project-management level comprises a portfolio level;

the plurality of SOP activities comprises one or more SOP activities to be performed from the portfolio level; and

the optimizing action comprises optimization of at least one portfolio of projects.

37. The computer-program product of claim 36 , wherein the implementation comprises generating and storing a defined set of metrics for the projects in the enterprise and a defined set of thresholds, each threshold in the defined set of thresholds being related to a metric in the defined set of metrics.

38. The computer-program product of claim 37 , the project-management method comprising monitoring a project in the enterprise from at least one of the project level, the program level, and the portfolio level via the defined set of metrics.

39. The computer-program product of claim 38 , wherein the monitoring action comprises generating a standardized project scorecard for the project that includes a value for each metric in the defined set of metrics.

40. The computer-program product of claim 37 , wherein the defined set of metrics comprises metrics relating to at least one of project scope, project schedule, project cost, project resources, project risk, and project quality.